We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the launch of our app, B-cycle Now. To celebrate this awesome tool, let's take a look back on how it came to be:

Since launching in 2011, we consistently heard one piece of feedback from our riders more often than any other: "I like Boulder B-cycle, but your app sucks." We could not have agreed more, though the unfortunate reality is that it wasn't "our" app. The official B-cycle app was part of the software suite that we purchase from our vendor, B-cycle LLC, which also includes our website, station software, and back-end database. (To learn more about how our relationship with our vendor works, and the effect that has on you as a rider, you can read this recent post.)

Despite repeatedly making our riders' frustrations with the official app known to B-cycle LLC, and despite nearly a year of promises to make improvements, no visible progress was being made. At the time, we felt stuck. We knew what was wrong with the app and what we would change to provide a better user experience, but we lacked both the ability to directly change the existing app and the resources to spearhead a redesign ourselves.

You're killing me, Smalls.

Enter TalentRiot. In late 2013, we were approached by the staff of this local software developer with a familiar refrain: "We like Boulder B-cycle, but your app sucks." This time, however, the refrain came with a postscript: "We'll build you a better app for free."

In a fortunate turn of events, TalentRiot was in the habit of giving skill-building opportunities to its developers outside of project hours in order to keep them sharp. After all, what better way to build up developers’ skills than real-world projects? It was a match made in heaven.

Cue angelic choir.

And so, based on feedback from our users, we rolled up our sleeves and sat down with the TalentRiot team to hammer out an app. Our goal was to design an app that would not only be free of the bugs and quirks of the official B-cycle app, but it would also be faster and far more user-friendly in its interface.

We couldn't be happier with the result. The difference between the two apps is night and day. This side-by-side comparison says it best:

In case you can't view that video, here's a quick summary of the improvements B-cycle Now makes:

The Official B-cycle App

B-cycle Now

Selecting your city

Manual selection from a list

Geo-location automatically selects the nearest program

Finding stations

Round red markers

Pinpoint accuracy

Finding available bikes and docks

Click-through on each station icon

On-screen display of color-coded bike counts

Visualizing disconnected stations

Disconnected stations disappear entirely

Disconnected stations indicated with '?'

Getting directions

Redirects to your phone's browser

On-screen bike routes

Visiting your city's website

Manual selection through a cumbersome map interface

Automatic location-based selection

B-cycle Now Launched on June 24, 2014 for the 25+ B-cycle cities around the world, and we believe that it's the best app available for the needs of our riders. If you haven't downloaded it yet, what are you waiting for? It's free!